6.2.12

O'SULLIVAN'S BERLIN TRIUMPH

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s dramatic capture of the German Masters title last night proved that when he is fully motivated he is still a major force in the game.

O’Sullivan defeated Stephen Maguire 9-7 in a high quality final. He had of course trailed Andrew Higginson 4-0 in the opening round.

This was a familiar tale of the reprieved man syndrome. Time and again a player who could and probably should have lost early in a tournament goes on to win it.

The most pleasing factor about the final, regardless of the eventual outcome, was how hard O’Sullivan fought. He had to. Maguire himself played tough match snooker and couldn’t have tried any more.

There were some telltale signs of how much it meant to O’Sullivan, a few fist pumps here and there which is not really his thing.

Don’t ever be fooled that it doesn’t matter to him. Of course it does. You don’t win as much as he has without being a competitive animal.

He said afterwards that he was coming towards the end of his career. As he is 36 this is in part true but it is equally true that he isn’t finished just yet.

Ronnie will always attract attention for what he says: sometimes entertaining, sometimes maddening.

But ultimately snooker players should be judged not by their words but by their actions, by the way they play and what they contribute to the sport on table. It was clear from the reception he received after the final that O’Sullivan remains a huge box office attraction.

Despite winning the title, O’Sullivan’s top 16 seeding for the World Championship is not yet guaranteed, with the forthcoming Welsh Open still to play a part.

However, when O’Sullivan is remembered it won’t be for fluctuations in his world ranking but for his incredible store of achievements.

Last night’s clearly satisfied him greatly, as it should. He worked for it, he fought for it and he finally got his reward.

47 comments:

Ann Dodsworth
said...

Pleasing to see the older players can still overcome the young ones every now and then.Nice to see Ronnie give it his all and come through triumphant.He still has a part to play in snooker as long he keeps his mind right.

Tuned in to Radio 5's sports bulletin this morning hoping to hear mention of the result. Nothing. Oh, but they were quick to mention the Super Bowl result. While this may be of interest to some people, why on earth did they not even mention Ronnie had won the German Masters, as I'm sure a lot of people would have been interested to hear who won. But yet again the BBC ignore those sports they deem to have a 'minor' status, when in fact they have a large following. They do the same with darts as well, but are quick to bang on about tennis and rugby union, sports I would say are no more popular with the current population. Who the hell is interested in tennis anyway?!?!

The BBC don't ignore 'minor' sports (the snooker world championship gets more viewers than the Wimbledon final), they ignore working class sports. There is a huge difference really, and the only way that will change is when people are no longer forced into giving them money and the BBC have to actively appeal to its huge working class viewership for funding.

And well played to Ronnie of course. There are people who still maintain he is the best player in the world (Hendry) and those who don't (Williams and Holt), but before this tournament Ronnie said he had to win either this or the Welsh Open. Seriously, what other player in the game can announce they need to win one of the next two ranking touraments (after not winning for a couple of seasons) and then go off an win the very next tournament? Not Selby, not Trump, Higgins possibly, but when the will and determination is there he is one of the top two players in the world.

BBC did at least carry the scores from the tournament on their website (which is progress from a couple of years ago), but in general the BBC appears to agree with some of the players who are critical of Hearn's regime (i.e. only interested in tournaments held in the UK and shown on the BBC).

O'Sullivan's absence in recent months from overseas tournaments and some of the PTCs have cost him valuable ranking points. Possible causes for poor performance overseas are well documented so it is encouraging to see him win such a tournament.

Hopefully he will reflect on this success the next time he feels reluctant to play abroad. He has proven, perhaps to himself as well as his fans, that he can still win when it matters regardless of the surroundings and his competitive desire is no less than it was at his peak.

Stephen Maguire can rightfully feel disappointed to have played so well throughout the tournament after a lean spell only to encounter such a hungry O'Sullivan. He should take a lot of positive thoughts and confidence from this week and be proud of his performance.

Look, at the end of day he said he had to win either Germany or Wales and that's what he did. Higginson blew one frame, he had four more chances and didn't take them. I doubt there is a player alive who has won a title where a player didn't blow a frame against them. It happens, it's the nature of the sport. If one player fluffs five chances to win a match and the other player doesn't then maybe you should think on that. And then he won 4 more matches to take the title, including the 'best' player of the tournament. I know it's hard to take when you've been gloating for so long that he wouldn't win another event, and then he goes and does that. He made you look like a prize ass, and frankly your comments here aren't helping your case. Maybe you will think twice before making derogatory remakes from your armchair next time anon.

Ronnie O'Sullivan has made the anonymous poster who said he doesn't prevail past the early round in early tournaments very silly.

The Rocket is still a force in the game. Even if he has to qualify it wouldn't change the fact that he still has the capability to win any tournament.

It is absurd to say the BBC only focus on non-working class sports. They are the leading athletics broadcaster in the country, have exclusive rights to the rugby league's Challenge Cup, are the only free to air broadcaster of snooker, and have football programming on most weekends.

Mark, I totally agree with you. Eurosport UK tweeted me to apologise and blame the fact that it was a Eurosport International feed. I wonder how many more times Eurosport will be broadcasting a ranking tournament where Ronnie is in the final.

I have been using the Eurosport Player to watch snooker for just under a year. It would be very useful to know if others have the same occasional problems as I do:- buffering which is probably my internet service- freezing with an error message too long to remember, fixed by reselecting the Snooker ButtonI certainly need a keyboard & mouse by my side if I want to watch a whole session.

One tip I wwould give is switching to Google Chrome considerably improved the situation.

I suspect Ronnie will end up back as world number one as he has so many recent points.Some are forgetting its his 3rd ranking tournament win of the season and also has appeared in final(s).Mark Williams should be treated with respect for his views rather than a gormless ignoramus as some people would perceive him to be.Gormless or not he predicted Ronnie's comeback so he should be followed on Twitter for his rapier wit and wordsmith splendour.

I used Eurosport Player for years but have now stopped. The very same technical difficultuies that Colin described made me finally give it up. I just watch feeds now because paying for it gave me - at best - a long row of still photos and rarely watchable streaming. Too bad really.

But besides the horrible decision to show african football it was a great final and Ronnie is a new man after this week. He is a changed focused individual and I have rarely seen that.

Anonymous said... Look, at the end of day he said he had to win either Germany or Wales and that's what he did. Higginson blew one frame, he had four more chances and didn't take them. I doubt there is a player alive who has won a title where a player didn't blow a frame against them. It happens, it's the nature of the sport. If one player fluffs five chances to win a match and the other player doesn't then maybe you should think on that. And then he won 4 more matches to take the title, including the 'best' player of the tournament. I know it's hard to take when you've been gloating for so long that he wouldn't win another event, and then he goes and does that. He made you look like a prize ass, and frankly your comments here aren't helping your case. Maybe you will think twice before making derogatory remakes from your armchair next time anon.

3:01 PM

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on the contrary.ive never said i didnt think he wouldnt win another title.

i believe he will win at least another world chamionship.

im no fan of his, but ive never doubted his talent.

but still, if you want to make things up and pretend ive said he wont win another title, go ahead, keep yourself happy.

Jamie Brannon, by my reckoning Ronnie (18 yrs 2 mths) may have overtaken Hendrys span (17 yrs 4mths) between 1st ranking title and most recent, but hes still a month short of the 18yrs 3mths between Jimmys 86 classic and 04 players championship wins.

It did make them look silly as they only said it in a derogatory and childish manner.

What was laughable about Eurosport not showing the final was that on Eurosport2 was futsal and hockey. Are we seriously to believe that these sports are getting better ratings than snooker, particularly a match with Ronnie O'Sullivan playing in?

It really warms the cockles of the heart to see (yet again) the unbridled enthusiasm of the German Masters audience for this wonderful game of snooker. They were rewarded royally when Ronnie won because he is the Peoples Player (no disrespect to any other players).Incidentally, Dave, how many matches has Ronnie got to win at the Welsh Open to guarantee his place in the top 16, prior to the next cut-off point?Oh, and after recently praising Eurosport I feel I may have been a bit premature after watching the debacle of the totally disjointed coverage of the semis and final. To top it all off, while the afternoon final was being played we were offered recorded highlights of cycling. Mr Bean, (otherwise known as the person in charge of the scheduling for Eurosport), should consider his position and get in touch with the reality of covering a sporting event. It was contemptuous in the extreme to treat snooker in this manner. Barry Hearn needs to get involved asap to clear this up for future tournaments.

I sometimes agree with you, Jamie. But you ever so often make it impossible for me to admit this. I would be ashamed to post my name, as I am now. Pity, becaus in that bombardment of posts you actually have a good point from time to time.

Chill out a bit and don't let the stupidity (from outside and from within) get the better of you.

its a bit like saying 31Dec to 1 Jan is 1 year and is a longer period than 20Feb to 20Nov which is the same year so is effectively ZERO years.

As regards to Ronnie saying he is near the end of his career, well if he wants to he can play on for a lot longer. Davis is over 18 years older than him and is the obvious example to cite, but there are actually TWENTY NINE guys in the top 64 who are older than Ronnie, so hes by no means a veteran yet really.

Alarmingly though, there are no teenagers in the top 64. The demographics of the tour seem to be swaying towards an older tour of players in their 30s and 40s similar to darts. The likes of Maguire, Selby, Robbo, Murphy are sort of seen as the "younger, newer" generation, yet are all around or over 30.

ES Player:- buffering which is probably my internet service- freezing with an error message too long to remember, fixed by reselecting the Snooker ButtonI certainly need a keyboard & mouse by my side if I want to watch a whole session.------------------------------Have to agree with that, although during daytime things seem to be ok.

Eurosportplayer is good to have, as some streams don't 'stream' and it comes in handy with a 2 table situation. And you can view videos afterwards.So at the end good value for the money ;-)

This is more ridiculous than all of Mark Williams' tweets put together. When the record is only separated by a month or two you don't round up to the next full year to give your man the record. Do they round Ursain Bolt's times up to 10 seconds? Records are as a precise as they need to be.

Will people please give it a break on having a go at jamie just because he got his maths wrong so what his human and instead congratulate the rocket on a fine victory considering his position in the rankings.Fan or not admiration must be given to a legend of his generation.